"shadowmica" wrote in message
...
I have a outdoor light pole that has recently been blowing the circuit
breaker when turned on.

I replaced the light socket in the pole and it still does it.

I isolated the wires that go out to the pole from inside and hooked a
OHM meter up to the wires.

I have continuity between the black wire and the bare copper wire.



*You should not have continuity between the black and bare. That seems to
be the short. The difficult part is locating it in the ground. A good
place to start is at the base of the pole.




Between the White and copper and black and white I have no
continuity.


*Good!



I pulled the bulb out of the socket and still have a connection
between the black and the copper.



*You could try removing the entire fixture and see what happens.




Is this right or is it telling me I have a short some where in that
wire from the house to the pole.

I would like to know before I dig that wire up and replace it, that's
going to be a big job.

Any other thoughts of what it could be would also be helpful.

Thanks,

Update,

I pulled out the sensor the bulb was screwed into and checked the
wires again.

Open between all, thought it was fixed.

Hooked circuit back up to switch in house and turned on.

Immediately blew breaker.

With the breaker off and the wires to the switch still connected to
pole,(in Junction box in cellar), I tested circuit again and black to
copper was open but white to copper now had a reading back up the
circuit to the switch.

I took a extension cord and put the wires from the pole in it and
plugged it in and the light came on and worked fine.

I must also mention that the switch for this thing gets it's power
from a row of 4 switches near my front door.

There are 4 switches the pole one being the last in line.

They are wired as follows,

The switches all have the black wire to them and the bare copper then
in the switch box the white wires are all twisted together, none of
the white goes to the switches.

As far as I can tell, even though it seems unlikely is the wires from
the pole switch to the cellar jct box must be shorted.

Note also I can turn the pole switch on and off as long as it is
disconnected from the pole light wires in the JCT box in the cellar
with no problem.

"shadowmica" wrote in message
...
Update,

I pulled out the sensor the bulb was screwed into and checked the
wires again.

Open between all, thought it was fixed.

Hooked circuit back up to switch in house and turned on.

Immediately blew breaker.

With the breaker off and the wires to the switch still connected to
pole,(in Junction box in cellar), I tested circuit again and black to
copper was open but white to copper now had a reading back up the
circuit to the switch.


*That may be normal as the white and bare are bonded in your main panel.



I took a extension cord and put the wires from the pole in it and
plugged it in and the light came on and worked fine.

I must also mention that the switch for this thing gets it's power
from a row of 4 switches near my front door.

There are 4 switches the pole one being the last in line.

They are wired as follows,

The switches all have the black wire to them and the bare copper then
in the switch box the white wires are all twisted together, none of
the white goes to the switches.


"As far as I can tell, even though it seems unlikely is the wires from the
pole switch to the cellar jct box must be shorted."



*Remove all of the switches from the box, but do not disconnect the wires.
Turn on the circuit and see what happens. I've seen it happen a couple of
times over the years where a short between the bare and a switch contact
happens. I don't know why, but I surmise that they were in close proximity
from the original installation and over time vibration and building movement
caused them to make contact. The front door location is subject to a lot of
vibration from the door opening and closing.




Note also I can turn the pole switch on and off as long as it is
disconnected from the pole light wires in the JCT box in the cellar
with no problem.



*That is contrary to your above statement (In quotes). You need to pin it
down. Does the feed for the circuit come into the junction box or are those
wires just a continuation from the four gang switch box?